Despite being adamant for months that he will not resign from his appointment as Prime Minister-designate, Saad Hariri is reportedly considering stepping down.
The news came from Future Movement‘s Vice President, former MP Mustafa Alloush, who revealed that Hariri may resign if the cabinet deadlock persists.
Citing Future Movement sources, Al-Joumhouria reported that Hariri expected President Michel Aoun and Gebran Bassil‘s “attitudes to soften” sometime throughout the past 6 months and that they would put the national interest ahead of personal desires.
“But we lost hope, even in terms of human sympathy on the part of the government,” they said.
As government formation efforts seem to be completely blocked, countries including the United States, United Kingdom, and France, are reportedly working on measures to exert pressure on “corrupt” officials who are stalling political development.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is set to arrive in Beirut to meet with Aoun in a new effort to urge government formation.
Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government for almost 9 months now, while the country is enduring multiple severe crises and no indication of serious actions to tackle them or implement reforms.
At this stage, Lebanon is edging close to be declared a Failed State by the international community.
